Onderzoekkamer in de polikliniek van het Hospitaal Batak Instituut te Kaban Djahe

This photograph shows the Onderzoekkamer in de polikliniek van het Hospitaal Batak Instituut te Kaban Djahe and was made in 1928. The palette is very limited. It’s a study in grey, so the contrasts become all the more important. I find myself drawn to the surface of the photograph itself. It's adhered to something that looks like a page in a binder. If you look closely, you can see the texture of the paper and the way it’s aged. This is a photograph *of* a photograph, or, at least, it feels that way. It creates a distance between the viewer and the subject, which is compelling because it makes you consider what kind of labour has gone into its making. This reminds me of the work of Gerhard Richter, who used photographs as source material. Richter’s work is often blurred and indistinct, as if he's trying to capture a memory rather than a concrete image. Like Richter, this image invites us to contemplate the nature of representation.